Plenty of people have told "original" stories.

Stories that are popular can be legal rip offs from something that is vaguely similar but never gained much exposure. So, what?

"I told a story that the world is familiar with and has sufficient relevance to the issues of today but nobody heeded the warning"

"uhh, yeah, but it wasn't original"

My remark was self indulgent and totally as[s]inine, but I'm just saying something too, where's my pass?

Sorry, I guess you probably have made a significant contribution that's relevant to this glaring issue in society that we're all trying to come to grips with?

The internet doesn't act as a single cohesive entity

No, but a significant portion of it does act as a single, cohesive entity. Enough to perpetuate memes into popularity that glorify one and simultaneously villify another.

That's self evident.